Gargoyle Study #1

Gargoyle Study #1

Calumet Portable Shooting Table

Some new equipment I really wish I'd had in my studio days, the Calumet Portable Shooting Table and two Adorama Flashpoint 85w (480w equiv.) florescent banks.  The table is very well made, surprisingly sturdy and breaks down and stows away in a bag about the size of a back pack bed roll.  The Flashpoint banks have a cheap feel, but for $39, not that bad considering the replacement bulbs are $20 each.  The light on the stand (right) has a removable scrim hanging down.  The light on the floor, behind the table, has the scrim in place.  With the bulbs removed, the banks fold up to the size of a portable umbrella.

To test its strength, I snatched the nearest gargoyle weighing in at about four pounds and put it on the table.  Amazingly, the 1/8 inch flexible plastic sweep didn't deform much at all and the statue remained perfectly level.  Not having to worry about melting the table with quartz lighting is awesome - that used to drive me nuts!  The bank without the scrim delivers a broad light that is sharp enough to give nice shadows.

I think the claimed 480w tungsten equivalent is overly optimistic.  It looks more like 250w to me.  I'll run some color tests as soon as I get a new ColorChecker kit.

Technical: Nikon D700, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8 AF, ISO 200, f4.0 @ 1/100s, tripod with barely adequate for the combo Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2..